1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to gyroscopic apparatus. In particular, this invention relates to a free gyro motor drive circuit which controls the speed and rotational direction of a gyro motor.
2. Description of Prior Art
A variety of gyro motor drive circuits exist which control both speed and rotational direction of a gyro motor. These circuits employ saturable reactors as gyro motor magnet position sensing devices, thus necessitating the use of complex circuitry to implement the desired speed and rotational direction control of the gyro motor. Also, by using saturable reactors as gyro motor magnet position sensing devices previous gyro motor drive circuits have required considerable space, thus limiting the use of such circuits in missile control applications and other navigation systems.
Further, such circuits are costly, susceptible to noise, and are affected by temperature variations. Therefore, a gyro motor drive circuit is needed which is compact; requires less complex circuitry; is not susceptible to noise or temperature variations; and is cost effective.